Rahal

DENVER -- Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal played showdown and Andretti pulled an ace to win the pole for today's Texaco-Havoline Grand Prix a little more than one minute before the end of yesterday's qualifying session.Andretti set a track qualifying record with his lap of 79.631 mph, breaking the mark of 78.964 set by Teo Fabi last year in the inaugural event in the streets of downtown Denver.Rahal went into the second of two days of time trials holding the provisional pole by virtue of a 78.747 mph lap he threw at thefield Friday.

With all the talk this week about the bumps, tight turns and changing surfaces, the goal for every driver in Saturday's IZOD IndyCar Series three-segment qualifying race was to get as close to the front as possible, because passing could come with a cost Sunday. Just before entering his final lap, Will Power looked at the readout on the dashboard of his Penske Dallara and knew he was a tenth of a second off the fastest time of the day. He then set off on an exciting sprint to claim the pole for Baltimore's inaugural Grand Prix.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A day after one of the most accident-ridden Indianapolis 500s in history, driver Bobby Rahal voiced embarrassment at the performance of his peers."

LEXINGTON, Ohio - When Graham Rahal drives into the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, all he can think of is family. His grandfather, Mike, raced here in the 1960s, his father , Bobby, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner, raced here in the late 1970s. "My favorite memory is when I won the 2005 Sports Car Club of America National Championship in the Formula Atlantic Series here exactly 30 years from the time dad won that same series championship here," said Graham Rahal, who now drives for Chip Ganassi Racing.

NAZARETH, Pa. -- Arie Luyendyk stole another Indy-car race yesterday, using pit strategy to stretch his fuel and foil bids by championship contenders Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti to win the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix.Rahal, who came into the race trailing Andretti by 13 points in the title chase, appeared to have his second victory wrapped up before darting into the pits 10 laps from the end for a splash of fuel.That gave the lead, and probably the title, to Andretti, but he, too, had to pit for fuel, racing in on lap 195 in the 200-lap race on the one-mile Pennsylvania International Raceway tri-oval.

INDIANAPOLIS -- He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1986, but Bobby Rahal said yesterday he has never been more inspired to win for an owner than he will be Sunday.Bobby Rahal is the owner."I think the goals of owner and driver are the same," he said. "We both want to win. We both want to have the best team. It's just that now, as a driver, I have a vested interest. Maybe as a driver I feel an obligation to the owner side of me to give it a bigger effort."Rahal, who will start his Miller Lola/Chevy A on the inside of the fourth row Sunday, says he is enthused about racing again.

NAZARETH, Pa. -- By the time Michael Andretti reached the post-race news conference, he was subdued. He sat morosely, staring into space.It was quite a contrast from the Michael Andretti who had emerged from his race car minutes early. That Andretti was furious as he railed at his team.He had been close to perfect on the racetrack, avoiding danger and picking the perfect lines around the one-mile tri-oval. But on this cool autumn afternoon, with 35,000 fans packing Pennsylvania International Raceway, perfect on the race track wasn't good enough.

NAZARETH, Pa. -- If this were a game of Monopoly, Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal would be in jail and Emerson Fittipaldi would be counting all his money.Fittipaldi, who earned $300,000 yesterday by winning the sixtannual Marlboro Challenge all-star race, is hot. But, perhaps, not quite as hot as Andretti and Rahal, who were both given stop-and-go penalties for improperly entering pit road.It was a perfect demonstration of just how difficult it is thandicap the PPG IndyCar championship points race with just two races left in the season.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Teammates Bobby Rahal and Al Unser Jr. swept the front-row positions for today's Texaco-Havoline 200 and applied some pressure to Indy-car points leader Michael Andretti.Rahal's record-setting lap of 134.466 mph Friday held up yesterday in the final round of qualifying, giving the two-time CART PPG Cup champion his 15th career pole, first since a race in Nazareth, Pa., in October. More importantly, it gave him one more point in the championship battle.That cut Andretti's lead over Rahal to 176-172 and gave both Rahal and Unser, the defending series winner, a nice boost.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Among the many thousands of Palestinian refugees who made Iraq their home, Ahmed Rahal was one of the most driven. From an impoverished childhood in the West Bank, he rose to the pinnacle of Saddam Hussein's army, becoming the first Palestinian to hold the rank of general. Every step of the way, he had one dream: returning to an independent Palestine. The dream sustained him, but it also blinded him. He cast his lot with a ruthless dictator and did his bidding. He followed Hussein because he was the only leader who fostered the hope that a pan-Arab movement would create a Palestinian state and welcomed Palestinians to Iraq while they awaited his grand plan's fulfillment.

Joined by some of the nation's most famous drivers, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake will announce a deal Wednesday to bring high-speed racing to the streets of Downtown Baltimore with an annual event that officials say will draw more than 100,000 visitors to the city and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales, hotel stays and restaurant meals. But a survey of North American cities that have hosted similar events reveals a mixed record.

INDIANAPOLIS - Kenny Brack returned the favor for Buddy Rice when the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner was named yesterday to replace last year's winner in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Panoz-Honda for next week's race. A year ago it was Rice winning the 500 as a sub for Brack, who had suffered multiple injuries in an accident at Texas Motor Speedway at the end of the 2003 season. Brack has not raced in an Indy car since, but after five laps was up to 220 mph and had a 225.774 before he called it a day. "It was fun, it really was," Brack said after logging 129 laps around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Among the many thousands of Palestinian refugees who made Iraq their home, Ahmed Rahal was one of the most driven. From an impoverished childhood in the West Bank, he rose to the pinnacle of Saddam Hussein's army, becoming the first Palestinian to hold the rank of general. Every step of the way, he had one dream: returning to an independent Palestine. The dream sustained him, but it also blinded him. He cast his lot with a ruthless dictator and did his bidding. He followed Hussein because he was the only leader who fostered the hope that a pan-Arab movement would create a Palestinian state and welcomed Palestinians to Iraq while they awaited his grand plan's fulfillment.

Auto racingRahal team rolls out `Late Show' carpet for Brack's moveKenny Brack was welcomed to Bobby Rahal's CART racing team yesterday by David Letterman, a chorus line, Don Rickles and a musical number by Paul Shafer's band.The videotaped interlude in Hilliard, Ohio, accompanied Rahal's announcement during a news conference that Brack, one of the IRL's top drivers, was joining the team. Letterman is a co-owner of Team Rahal.Brack, 33, spent three seasons in the IRL, winning the driving title in 1998 and finishing second this year.

NAZARETH, Pa. -- By the time Michael Andretti reached the post-race news conference, he was subdued. He sat morosely, staring into space.It was quite a contrast from the Michael Andretti who had emerged from his race car minutes early. That Andretti was furious as he railed at his team.He had been close to perfect on the racetrack, avoiding danger and picking the perfect lines around the one-mile tri-oval. But on this cool autumn afternoon, with 35,000 fans packing Pennsylvania International Raceway, perfect on the race track wasn't good enough.

NAZARETH, Pa. -- If this were a game of Monopoly, Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal would be in jail and Emerson Fittipaldi would be counting all his money.Fittipaldi, who earned $300,000 yesterday by winning the sixtannual Marlboro Challenge all-star race, is hot. But, perhaps, not quite as hot as Andretti and Rahal, who were both given stop-and-go penalties for improperly entering pit road.It was a perfect demonstration of just how difficult it is thandicap the PPG IndyCar championship points race with just two races left in the season.

INDIANAPOLIS - Kenny Brack returned the favor for Buddy Rice when the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner was named yesterday to replace last year's winner in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Panoz-Honda for next week's race. A year ago it was Rice winning the 500 as a sub for Brack, who had suffered multiple injuries in an accident at Texas Motor Speedway at the end of the 2003 season. Brack has not raced in an Indy car since, but after five laps was up to 220 mph and had a 225.774 before he called it a day. "It was fun, it really was," Brack said after logging 129 laps around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit.

DETROIT -- Emerson Fittipaldi came away with his first victory of the season yesterday in the Detroit Grand Prix, a race featuring an incident involving Mario and Michael Andretti and a safety truck that caused a stoppage of nearly an hour.The Brazilian, who also won here in 1989 on the way to the CART driving championship, held off a determined effort by series point leader Bobby Rahal over the final dozen laps on the tight 2.5-mile, 17-turn circuit winding through the streets of downtown Detroit.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- An all-out, hold-the-pedal-to-the-floor speed show is the forecast for today's IndyCar race on Michigan International Speedway's two-mile, high-banked oval."

INDIANAPOLIS -- A day after one of the most accident-ridden Indianapolis 500s in history, driver Bobby Rahal voiced embarrassment at the performance of his peers."